The costs and reimbursements for lung cancer treatment among selected health care providers in the Czech Republic

The objective of the article is to objectivise and assess the costs for the lung cancer therapy from payer’s (health insurance company) and the healthcare provider’s (hospital) perspective based information available from several large hospitals and specialised centres. No comprehensive of costs related to the treatment of lung cancers at all stages has been published in Czech Republic to-date. The results in this study are calculated based on diagnostic and algorithms, i.e. process maps. These, in turn, are derived from the recommended procedures issued by the Masaryk Institute of Oncology, the University Hospital in Králové and the University Hospital in PlzeÀ. In total, the costs and reimbursements were for 32 utilized algorithms, i.e. process maps. The costs for therapeutic processes for 22 results, while 10 results correspond to diagnostic processes. Both direct and indirect were included in individual calculations. The calculations imply that treatment costs differ depending on the selected diagnostic and therapeutic procedure. It becomes that the setting of the reimbursement system presently generates different stimuli for , who may reach both positive and negative balances. This fact, in turn, may have an on the economic result leading, in its consequence, to the preference of more suitable in terms of reimbursement regardless of the optimum procedures for the particular . This fact is, to a certain extent, reflected by the reimbursements calculated by means of DRG system. The given algorithms may potentially be used by health care providers to reach costs, which will allow accurate calculations for particular hospitals.